The California-Nevada Section and the International AWWA have numerous awards covering all aspects of the professional drinking water community. The Section encourages you to nominate worthy candidates for any of these awards. Use the downloadable forms to submit a nomination. Nominations may be sent to the CA-NV Section office (info@ca-nv-awwa.org) or to the Awards Committee chair, Bruce Macler (macler.bruce@epa.gov).
For detailed descriptions and registration forms, please click on the award below.
The following are awards given by the CA-NV Section:
George A. Elliott Award
“An award to recognize outstanding service to the Section, by presentation of the best paper, unusual contribution to committee activity, exceptional effort to improve member and public relations, outstanding innovations in the water works field.”
The George A. Elliot Memorial Award is the highest CA-NV Section award. It honors the man who helped establish the Section in 1920 and who was our first section Chair from 1920-1922. It was created by the Section in 1949 to recognize outstanding volunteer achievement. It may be given to one or two individuals per year and is awarded at the fall conference. Nominations must be submitted by June. (Elliott form)
Bernard A. Miller, Jr. Outstanding Operator Award This award, sponsored by OMI CH2M Hill, recognizes the superior performance of an operator in a supervisory position. It is awarded at the spring conference. The awardee is selected by the Operators Division. Nominations must be submitted by January to the Operators Division chair. (Miller form)
Operators Meritorious Service Award
The Operators Meritorious Service Award is an Association award given at the Section level. It recognizes special performance by non-supervisory operators beyond normal expectations of duty. Because of its size, the CA-NV Section is authorized to give as many as six awards each year, if suitable candidates are identified. The Section has Operator's Meritorious Service Awards for both distribution system operators and treatment plant operators. Three awards in each category may be awarded in any year and are given at the spring conference. Awardees are selected by
the Operators Division. Nominations must be submitted by January to the Operators Division chair. (OpMeritoriousService form)
Selection criteria include recognition of special performance in one or more of the following areas:
1. Continuous compliance with all public health standards in treated drinking water.
2. Consistent and outstanding contribution to plant maintenance thereby prolonging the useful life of equipment.
3. The development of new and/or modified equipment or significant process modifications to provide for more efficient and/or effective treatment.
4. Special efforts in the training of treatment plant operators.
5. Special acts not directly related to water treatment, but which demonstrate dedication to the public beyond the normal operating responsibilities.
6. Consistent and outstanding contribution to operation and/or maintenance of distribution lines, pump stations and reservoirs.
Don Kaiser Volunteerism Award This award honors the long, inspired contributions of Don Kaiser to the CA-NV Section. It recognizes exemplary volunteer activities with the Section during the previous year. This award is given at the fall conference. Selection is by the CA-NV Section staff.
Energy Management Award
This award recognizes utilities for outstanding energy management in operation of their water treatment and distribution system. Nominations are scored for innovation, significance, and transferability to other utilities. Information on system energy usage and brief descriptions of energy management techniques employed by the utility are required. Awards are given to utilities in three size categories based on the number of service connections: small, medium and large. Awards are determined by the Energy Committee and are given at the fall conference. Nominations
are due by June to the Section office. (Award form)
Exemplary Source Water Protection Award
This award is given at both the Section and Association level. See detail below in the AWWA Awards section.
Larry C. Larson Safety Award
This award recognizes a utility with the commitment to make their employee’s heath and safety a main priority. Awards are given to utilities in five size categories: 12 or fewer employees, 13 to 50 employees, 51 to 100 employees, 101 to 500 employees, and more than 500 employees. The award is given at the fall conference. Awards are determined by the Safety Committee. Nomination are due by June to the Section office. Awardees will be considered for nomination for the AWWA Wendell LaDue Utility Safety Award (see description below in AWWA Awards section)
Walter O. Weight Membership Award
This award honors Walter O. Weight, past chair of the CA-NV Section and a tireless champion of membership recruitment. It recognizes above and beyond performance in overall recruiting and retention of AWWA members and/or demonstration of innovative methods to increase membership in the spirit of Walter O. Weight. This award is given at the fall conference. The awardee is determined by the Membership Committee. Nominations are due by June to the Section office.
Smaller Utilities Award
This award recognizes the positive accomplishments of well-operated smaller utilities, which have to perform all the same duties and have the same responsibilities as larger agencies, but often with limited staff, funds and resources. The Section may give up to three awards per year. These awards are given at the spring conference. Awardees are determined by the Smaller Utilities Committee. Nominations are due by January to the Section office. (Smaller
Utility form)
Chair Award
The outgoing Chair of the CA-NV Section may give plaques to up to ten members to honor their contributions to the Chair and to the Section. These awards are given at the fall conference. Nominations are due by June to the Section office. (Chair form)
Host Utility Award
This award is given to each conference's host utility in recognition of the time and resources given to the CA-NV Section.
Local Arrangements Committee Chair Award This award is given to each conference's Local Arrangements Committee Chair in recognition of the time and effort given to the CA-NV Section by the LAC volunteers.
Education Award
This award recognizes individuals 19 years old or younger who have created a water-related project of superior quality. Any student whose project has been displayed at any local or state science fair is eligible.
American Water Works Association Awards
AWWA has many awards. See the AWWA website for a complete listing (www.awwa.org; awards are listed under "AWWA officers and committee directory"). For some of them, the CA-NV Section provides nominations. The following are Association awards open to CA-NV Section nominations. Unless noted otherwise, nominations for any of these awards are due by June to the Section office. These awards are given at the AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition in the year following nomination.
Abel Wolman Award of Excellence
One of the two highest AWWA awards, it is to recognize those whose careers in the water works industry exemplify vision, creativity, and excellent professional performance characteristic of Abel Wolman's long and productive career.
To qualify for the award the nominee must be an individual member or a duly appointed representative of an organization member of the American Water Works Association. To be eligible for consideration the nominee must have established himself/herself in the water works profession through career performance spanning a minimum of 20 years. The nominee's work must exemplify vision, creativity, and excellence and must have had recognizable impact on the professionalism of the industry.
Academic Achievement Award
To encourage academic excellence and to give recognition to those graduate students who have made outstanding contributions to the field of public water supply through their work at a university. Four awards, consisting of a plaque and money, are given annually:
First Place Doctoral Dissertation Category $3,000
Second Place Doctoral Dissertation Category $1,500
First Place Masters Thesis Category $3,000
Second Place Masters Thesis Category $1,500
Recognition will also be given to the major advisor of each of the recipients of the award.
Any university graduate student working toward a Masters or Doctorate degree who has written a Masters thesis or a Doctoral dissertation of significant value to the water supply industry is eligible. The manuscript must reflect the work of a single author and be submitted during the competition year in which it was submitted for the degree.
A.P. Black Research Award
This award was established in 1967 in honor of Dr. A. P. Black to recognize outstanding research contributions to water science and water supply rendered over an appreciable period of time.
American/Canadian/Mexican Water :Landmarks Award
This award recognizes an American, Canadian, or Mexican Water Landmark at least 50 years old that has had a direct and significant relationship with water supply, treatment, distribution, or technological development. It is given as deserved. There are three principle criteria for selection:
1. An American, Canadian, or Mexican Water Landmark must be a tangible, physical property that has or has had a direct and significant relationship with water's supply, treatment, distribution, or technological development. It should be of a permanent and nonexpendable nature, such as a building, dam, reservoir, tower, etc., and not machinery or a natural water resource.
2. A water landmark must be at least 50 years old and be recognized within its own community or region as a popular, valued, or historically significant property. (Evidence of this recognition must be provided.)
3. It must be apparent that the Landmark candidate has been and will continue to be maintained in a manner appropriate to the status of an American, Canadian, or Mexican Water Landmark. (A clear, current, original photo of the candidate should be provided to demonstrate its condition.) The Landmark may be utilized in a manner other than its original purpose.
Award of Merit
This is an award of achievement to those outside the water profession who have demonstrated outstanding service in support of the principles of AWWA in providing better water for people. It is intended for any individual, group, or organization that has made a notable and outstanding contribution to the water profession. The nominee cannot be employed in the water profession.
Courageous Service Award
This award is to recognize individuals who may not exactly fit the requirements of the Heroism Award, but are deserving of some type of recognition. These individuals may be credited with risking their own life by "staying at their post" in an effort to save their water supply. While these individuals may not have saved someone else, they certainly went "above and beyond" the call of duty.
Distinguished Public Service Award
The award for Distinguished Public Service, established in 1951 in honor of Harry E. Jordan who served as Secretary of the Association from 1936 to 1959, is presented in recognition of distinguished public service outside the line of duty by an AWWA member. It is open to all members of AWWA who have made outstanding contributions in public service, in addition to achieving recognition as professionals in the industry. Public service is considered to be exceptional, long-term voluntary service in a leadership capacity in or with community-based activities such as church, fraternal, youth, or
service-oriented organizations and/or exceptional volunteer service to federal, state, provincial, municipal, or other governmental entities.
Diversity Award
This award recognizes the individual or organization that has created, promoted, and maintained diversity within an organization by establishing an environment that recognizes, encourages, and effectively utilizes each individual's talents. The recipient of this award will have demonstrated, through their activities, the establishment of an environment that recognizes, encourages, and effectively utilizes each individual's talents and will have shown major contributions to the cause of diversity. Minority recruitment and hiring is but one element in the establishment of a diverse work force
and should not be weighed too heavily when selecting a diversity award recipient. The diversity award is not given to an individual or organization on the basis of who they are, but because of their achievements and accomplishments. Examples of achievements or accomplishments that exemplify the traits of an appropriate award recipient might include, but are not limited to, the establishment and fostering of diversity programs. Some examples of diversity programs include mentoring, support networks, internship programs, coop programs, work-study, and diversity training. Commitment to diversity
can be demonstrated by some form of management accountability/tracking as a means of enumerating the impact on the part of the individual or organization to increase and maintain diversity.
Exemplary Source Water Protection Award
This award recognizes organizations in North America who have developed and are implementing exemplary source water protection programs. It is given at both the Section and Association level: A maximum of three awards per Section per year, distributed among small, medium, and large systems. A maximum of three awards by the Association per year, distributed among small, medium, and large systems. The winners of the CA-NV Section awards will be automatically submitted to AWWA for consideration for the Association award. (Ex SW Prot form)
The awardee must meet all of the following criteria:
1. The water system or authority must be regulated by the state/province.
2. The source water protection plan/program must:
• have been developed by a planning/development team which is representative of the community in the source water protection area,
• have a completed source water assessment which satisfies the applicable state/provincial requirements, and includes at a minimum:
• the location of all current or planned water sources,
• delineation of the source water protection area(s),
• identification of the types and locations of existing and potential sources of contamination,
• identification of the distance and/or contaminant travel time between known or potential sources of contamination and the public water supply intakes or wells, and
• identification of the likelihood of potential contamination sources affecting source water quality (i.e., a vulnerability/susceptibility assessment).
• have a management program which effectively controls potential sources of contamination in the source water protection area,
• have a management program which controls introduction of new potential sources of contamination into the source water protection area,
• have an emergency plan, infrastructure, and equipment available to deal with accidents which may threaten the water supply within the source water protection area,
• have an ongoing stakeholder education and involvement program,
• have been coordinated with local, state/provincial, (and where applicable) regional and/or national authorities who regulate potential sources of contamination within the source water protection area(s).
• have a monitoring program to measure the effectiveness of the source water protection efforts, and
• have a watershed monitoring program that measures upgradient water quality for surface water supplies.
3. The source water protection plan/program must have a person(s) responsible for carrying out the effort (e.g., a Source Water Protection Program Manager).
George Warren Fuller Award
George Warren Fuller Awards are presented annually by the American Water Works Association to the Sections' respective selected members for their distinguished service to the water supply field in commemoration of the sound engineering skill . . . the brilliant diplomatic talent . . . and the constructive leadership which characterized the life of George Warren Fuller. Awardees become members of the George Warren Fuller Society. To qualify for the award the person must be an Individual Member or a duly appointed representative of an organization member of the American Water Works
Association. In the case of a posthumous award, the recipient must have been an AWWA member at the time of his/her death. Each Section may make annual Fuller Award presentations equal to its number of Directors on the Association Board of Directors. The CA-NV Section is allowed two awards per year. (Fuller form)
Gimmicks and Gadgets Award
This competitive award recognizes inventive creativity by individuals. It consists of cash prizes of $500 (first place), $300 (second place), and $200 (third place), plus commemorative plaques to each of the three winners.
An entry should be a novel and relatively simple mechanical device or procedure designed to provide a more efficient, safer, and/or simplified means of performing routine tasks or functions in the maintenance, operation, or construction of a water utility system. Commercially available products are not eligible as gadgets, but a unique use of a commercial product may be entered as a gimmick. Entries are mailed directly to the editor of Opflow, typically consisting of a photo or drawing and a written description. Each entry will be screened by AWWA staff engineers and, if not found
dangerous or otherwise unacceptable, will be approved for entry into the annual competition and for possible publication.
Heroism Award
This award shall constitute official recognition of an act of heroism on the part of an
employee in the water utility profession wherein the rescuer, in the process of aiding some other person or persons, must have placed himself/herself at great personal risk. To be eligible for this award the rescuer must, within the past 12 months, have performed a significant rescue act either on or off the job toward saving another person or persons from loss of life or extreme injury, and in the process, must have placed himself/herself at great personal risk. The award may be presented to an employee of any water utility, whether or not that utility holds membership in
AWWA. This award is given as deserved and has no nomination deadline.
Honorary Member Award
This award is presented each year to individuals "whose knowledge and accomplishments in the field of water supply entitle him/her to special recognition." An Honorary Member shall have all the rights and privileges of an Active Member and shall be exempt from paying dues. All members of AWWA and others "whose knowledge and accomplishments in the field of water supply entitle him/her to special recognition" are eligible for this award.
Jack W. Hoffbuhr Award
To honor the legacy of Jack W. Hoffbuhr (retired Executive Director, AWWA) by recognizing outstanding performance and accomplishments by a Section staff member of AWWA. To qualify for the award the nominee must have shown continuous dedication above and beyond normal duties to Section business of AWWA by demonstrating loyalty, reliability, responsibility, leadership, and excellent service to the membership of the Section and Association. In addition, the successful candidate must be viewed as a team player and a good communicator.
The section staff eligible for this award includes paid staff plus contract staff, part-time staff or staff that works for an Association Management Company employed by the section. Since this is an award to recognize Section staff, AWWA staff members are ineligible for the award.
Outstanding Service to AWWA Award This award is to recognize and honor a member of the American Water Works Association who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Association through leadership and active participation in AWWA programs. A nominee must have maintained AWWA membership and given outstanding service to AWWA for a period of at least 10 years.
Public Communications Achievement Award
This award is for excellence in the field of communicating information about water industry issues to the public. It is to recognize AWWA members and/or organizations for significant accomplishments in communication-educating the public, promoting awareness and understanding of water issues, establishing media relations, implementing community involvement programs, and inspiring others to model behavior with the public that builds trust and credibility.
The award recognizes individual AWWA members and/or member organizations for fostering and supporting the development of public outreach programs and integrating public affairs as a core element of utility planning and management. The award is intended to encourage utilities to incorporate public outreach into their operating plans, as well as to provide examples of successful public outreach programs and best practices.
Both individual and organizational awards are divided into three categories: A) those serving fewer than 5,000 service connections; B) those serving between 5,000 and 25,000 service connections; and C) those serving more than 25,000 service connections. A maximum of two awards per year will be given in each of the six categories; however, awards will be based solely upon merit and may not necessarily be issued in all categories. The program for which the individual/organization is nominated may be either ongoing or a large, focused initiative completed within the 24-month period prior to the
application date, but which demonstrates a strong, broad-based commitment to public outreach and communications.
Because the individual award is intended to recognize directors and managers outside the public affairs field who foster and support public outreach as an integral part of the organization's management strategy, nominees must meet the following criteria:
1. Individual nominated must be a member of AWWA.
2. It is preferred that individual award nominees be a manager outside the public information, community relations or government affairs divisions who has demonstrated a commitment to communications and public outreach. Nominations of individuals in public affairs or outreach must clearly define why the application is for a single person rather than a group, department or organization.
3. Nominee's career in the water works profession must span a minimum of three years. If the nominee is no longer employed by the member utility represented in the program or body of work, the period of separation must be less than 12 months prior to the application date.
4. Individuals may not nominate themselves; however, they may be nominated by a member of the same organization, another member organization or an AWWA section.
5. Service and contributions cited in the nomination must be related to operational goals and demonstrate outstanding efforts in terms of scope, creativity, excellence, impact, and/or success in communicating water issues.
Applications for organizational awards will be judged primarily on ability to demonstrate the utility's ongoing commitment to public outreach, commitment of resources to public communications, the linkage between communications efforts and the organization's operational goals, establishment of communication objectives, thoroughness of planning, execution of activities and documentation of results.
1. Organization nominated must be an AWWA member utility.
2. Nominee's work must exemplify professional excellence, demonstrate the utility's long-term commitment to public outreach and communications, and provide evidence of efforts to integrate public affairs as a core element of utility planning and management.
3. Service and contributions cited in the nomination demonstrate outstanding efforts in terms of scope, creativity, excellence, impact, and/or success in communicating water issues.
4. The nomination should not reflect a short-term (crisis management plan) program unless addressing the issue required the development and implementation of a sustained, long-term outreach program.
5. Communication efforts cited must have had a documented positive impact on operational objectives, improving organizational performance, gaining support or mitigating issues within the community, and/or becoming an industry leader.
Nominations will be evaluated on the following criteria. Programs/individuals that do not qualify for the award based on scores may qualify for a Certificate of Merit at the judges' discretion.
1. Documented achievements in public affairs, including projects or programs that promote awareness and understanding of water issues.
2. Exceptional efforts that demonstrate the nominee's skills and commitment to overcome challenges and/or fully integrate communications and public affairs as a core element of management strategies.
3. Embracing public affairs in day-to-day management and operations with demonstrated commitment to skills transfer and mentoring others in this practice.
Other factors that may be considered include:
1. Documentation of efforts to assess best practices for outreach, plan outreach activities, and post-program evaluation of effectiveness.
2. Volunteer service and leadership (individual or organizational) to the Section or International AWWA organization.
Recognition by AWWA for Service to the Water Profession
This award recognizes individuals, groups, or organizations who may be members or nonmembers of AWWA and have made significant contributions to the water supply profession. It is given as deemed appropriate by the AWWA officers.
Wendell LaDue Utility Safety Award
This award, established in honor of Wendell R. LaDue, is presented to recognize distinguished safety programs by water utilities. One award will be given annually in each of four classes: (I) Utilities with fewer than 10 employees; (II) 10-100 employees; (III) 100-500 employees and (IV) over 500 employees. Nomination is by the Section in which the utility is located. As noted above, winners of the CA-NV Section Larry C. Larson Safety Award are eligible for nomination.
Water Industry Hall of Fame
The Water Industry Hall of Fame, one of the two highest awards in AWWA, was established in 1970 to perpetuate the memory of those living and deceased who have made the most significant contributions to the field of public water supply. The names of the members of the Hall of Fame are engraved on a bronze plaque at AWWA headquarters, and a plaque signifying membership is presented for mounting. If deceased, the plaque is presented to the institution or organization with whom the member is identified. To be eligible for the award, a candidate should be substantially retired, with
achievements, character, and professionalism well established, be beyond the age of 60, and have been an AWWA member for 15 years. The award may be awarded posthumously at any age. The candidate's influence upon the water supply profession must still be felt in the practices, inventions, or literature for which he/she was responsible. Contributions to the water supply profession may have been in any of the many facets of disciplines of the field as long as they are significant and have stood the test of time.
Awards, Operator's Award, Miller Award, Bernard Miller, George Fuller, George Elliott
